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County Employment and Wages in Wisconsin — Third Quarter 2014

Four of the six large counties in Wisconsin recorded employment increases from September 2013 to September 2014, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (Large counties are defined as those with employment of 75,000 or more as measured by 2013 annual average employment.) Dane County had the largest increase, up 1.1 percent, followed by Outagamie and Milwaukee Counties, up 0.8 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively. Employment in Waukesha County rose 0.3 percent over the year. Regional Commissioner Charlene Peiffer noted that the employment gains in these four counties were less than the national increase of 2.0 percent. (See table 1.)

Among the six large counties in Wisconsin, employment was highest in Milwaukee (482,400) in September 2014, followed by Dane (314,700), and Waukesha (232,100). The three other counties—Brown, Outagamie, and Winnebago—had employment levels of less than 150,000. Collectively, Wisconsin's six large counties accounted for 49.3 percent of total employment within the state. Nationwide, the 339 largest counties made up 71.8 percent of total U.S. employment.

The average weekly wage in Winnebago County rose 3.2 percent from the third quarter of 2013 to the third quarter of 2014, the largest increase among Wisconsin's large counties, followed by Brown county at 3.1 percent. Waukesha County had the highest average weekly wage in the state at $929, followed by Milwaukee County at $902 and Dane County at $900. (See table 1.) Nationally, the average weekly wage rose 2.9 percent over the year to $949 in the third quarter of 2014.

Employment and wage levels (but not over-the-year changes) are also available for the 66 counties in Wisconsin with employment below 75,000. All of these smaller counties had average weekly wages below the national average. (See table 2.)

Large county wage changes

Two of Wisconsin’s large counties recorded wage gains greater than the national increase of 2.9 percent from the third quarter of 2013 to the third quarter of 2014. (See table 1.) As noted, Winnebago County experienced the state’s largest average weekly wage increase, up 3.2 percent, and ranked 91st among the 339 largest counties across the nation. Brown County’s 3.1 percent increase ranked 103rd. The Counties of Milwaukee, Outagamie, and Waukesha all experienced average weekly wage increases of 2.5 percent, ranking 165th nationwide. Dane County recorded the only wage decrease among Wisconsin’s large counties, down 2.2 percent, ranking 338th in the nation for change in average weekly wages.

Nationally, 328 of the 339 largest counties registered over-the-year wage increases. Olmsted, Minn., had the largest wage gain, up 11.1 percent from the third quarter of 2013. San Francisco, Calif., was second with a wage increase of 8.6 percent, followed by Santa Clara, Calif. (7.4 percent), and San Mateo, Calif. and Brazoria, Texas (7.1 percent each).

Among the largest U.S. counties, 10 experienced over-the-year wage decreases. Collier, Fla., had the largest wage decrease with a loss of 3.9 percent. Dane, Wis., had the second largest decrease in average weekly wages, down 2.2 percent from the third quarter 2013, followed by Williamson, Texas. (-0.8 percent), Hamilton, Ind. (-0.7 percent), and Shawnee, Kan. (-0.4 percent).

Large county average weekly wages

Average weekly wages in Wisconsin’s six largest counties were below the national average of $949 in the third quarter of 2014. As noted, Waukesha County ($929) had the highest average weekly wage in the state, ranking 119th among the 339 largest counties across the nation, followed by Milwaukee ($902) and Dane ($900) which placed 142nd and 145th, respectively. Brown ($829) and Outagamie ($808) reported the lowest average weekly wage among the state’s largest counties and ranked among the bottom half.

Nationwide, average weekly wages were above the U.S. average ($949) in 99 of the 339 largest counties in the third quarter of 2014. Santa Clara, Calif., recorded the highest average weekly wage at $2,012, followed by San Mateo, Calif. ($1,824), New York, N.Y. ($1,733), San Francisco, Calif. ($1,685), and Washington, D.C. ($1,631).

There were 237 large counties with an average weekly wage below the U.S. average in the third quarter of 2014. Horry County, S.C. ($580), reported the lowest wage, followed by the counties of Cameron, Texas ($603), Hidalgo, Texas ($616), Marion, Fla. ($644), and Pasco, Fla. ($650).

Average weekly wages in Wisconsin’s smaller counties

Of the 66 counties in Wisconsin with employment below 75,000, Racine County had the highest average weekly wage at $830. Bayfield County had the lowest weekly wage at $512 followed by Florence, at $516. (See table 2.)

When all 72 counties in Wisconsin were considered, 25 reported average weekly wages of $649 or less, 31 had wages from $650 to $749, and 16 had wages of $750 or more. (See chart 1.)

Additional statistics and other information

QCEW data for states have been included in this release in table 3. For additional information about quarterly employment and wages data, please read the Technical Note or visit www.bls.gov/cew.

Employment and Wages Annual Averages Online features comprehensive information by detailed industry on establishments, employment, and wages for the nation and all states. The 2013 edition of this publication contains selected data produced by Business Employment Dynamics (BED) on job gains and losses, as well as selected data from the first quarter 2014 version of the national news release. Tables and additional content from Employment and Wages Annual Averages 2013 are now available online at www.bls.gov/cew/cewbultn13.htm. The 2014 edition of Employment and Wages Annual Averages Online will be available in September 2015.

The County Employment and Wages release for fourth quarter 2014 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, June 17, 2015, at 9:00 a.m. (CT).

Technical Note

Average weekly wage data by county are compiled under the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program, also known as the ES-202 program. The data are derived from summaries of employment and total pay of workers covered by state and federal unemployment insurance (UI) legislation and provided by State Workforce Agencies (SWAs). The 9.4 million employer reports cover 137.7 million full- and part-time workers. The average weekly wage values are calculated by dividing quarterly total wages by the average of the three monthly employment levels of those covered by UI programs. The result is then divided by 13, the number of weeks in a quarter. It is to be noted, therefore, that over-the-year wage changes for geographic areas may reflect shifts in the composition of employment by industry, occupation, and such other factors as hours of work. Thus, wages may vary among counties, metropolitan areas, or states for reasons other than changes in the average wage level. Data for all states, Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), counties, and the nation are available on the BLS Web site at www.bls.gov/cew/; however, data in QCEW press releases have been revised (see Technical Note below) and may not match the data contained on the Bureau’s Web site.

QCEW data are not designed as a time series. QCEW data are simply the sums of individual establishment records reflecting the number of establishments that exist in a county or industry at a point in time. Establishments can move in or out of a county or industry for a number of reasons—some reflecting economic events, others reflecting administrative changes.

The preliminary QCEW data presented in this release may differ from data released by the individual states as well as from the data presented on the BLS Web site. These potential differences result from the states’ continuing receipt, review and editing of UI data over time. On the other hand, differences between data in this release and the data found on the BLS Web site are the result of adjustments made to improve over-the-year comparisons. Specifically, these adjustments account for administrative (noneconomic) changes such as a correction to a previously reported location or industry classification. Adjusting for these administrative changes allows users to more accurately assess changes of an economic nature (such as a firm moving from one county to another or changing its primary economic activity) over a 12-month period. Currently, adjusted data are available only from BLS press releases.

Table 1. Covered employment and wages in the United States and the 6 largest counties in Wisconsin, third quarter 2014

Footnotes:(1) Average weekly wages were calculated using unrounded data.(2) Percent changes were computed from quarterly employment and pay data adjusted for noneconomic county reclassifications.(3) Ranking does not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.(4) Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.

Footnotes:(1) Average weekly wages were calculated using unrounded data.(2) Totals for the United States do not include data for Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands.(3) Data not included in the national ranking.